“He said in four to five hours it will be all over and then she could go home.”

In fact, it was the beginning of an ordeal that lasted for days.

Mr. Halappanavar outlined in detail how the hospital consultant, Katherine Astbury, twice dismissed requests for a termination and told the couple it was because the fetus was alive. The second time, Dr. Astbury allegedly told him: “Unfortunately I cannot. This is a Catholic country, we are bound by the law. We cannot terminate the fetus when it’s still alive.”

The consultant’s comments and apparent misreading of Irish law permitting an abortion to save the life of the mother caused international outcry. The Indian government issued a diplomatic protest to Dublin.

An official inquiry has found that staff did not show sufficient concern for the risks to Mrs. Halappanavar’s life.

Mr. Halappanavar said his wife was admitted on Oct. 21 and that, on Oct. 23, she requested a termination for a second time from Dr. Astbury.

An emotional Mr. Halappanavar wiped away tears as he told how, on the Wednesday afternoon, his wife miscarried their baby.

“I could hear Savita crying,” he said. “She was in shock again. I was wiping her tears. She was saying ‘It was a girl, it was a girl.’

“Savita was very confident it would be a girl. She already had finalised a name.”

She said ‘she was dying’

Mrs. Halappanavar died on the following Sunday after she was admitted for suspected septicaemia. Mr. Halappanavar said a nurse held his hand and asked: “Do you know what’s happening?”

“I said yes,” he said. “She said ‘she was dying.'”

Several expert witnesses are expected to give evidence during the inquest, including the former master of the National Maternity Hospital Dr Peter Boylan. More than 50 statements have been submitted by health chiefs and police.

Mr. Halappanavar, 34, an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, has so far refused to co-operate with the official investigations.

The death of Mrs. Halappanavar thrust the controversial issue of abortion in Ireland into the spotlight, with pro-choice and pro-life groups both staging demonstrations.